A Central Florida clerk at a Chevron store has been arrested and charged with selling alcohol to a 17-year-old, as part of the Polk County Sheriff’s ongoing Operation Pop Top.
“The law is very well-known; do not sell alcohol to anyone under 21 years of age,” said Sheriff Grady Judd. “It’s just that simple, yet some store clerks have to learn it the hard way. We do these store-checks often to make sure Polk County stores and clerks abide by the state law.”
Deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office recently carried-out another round of Operation Pop Top checks at local stores this week. The goal: to ensure stores are refusing to sell alcoholic beverages to anyone under 21 years of age, per Florida law.
Aiding the deputies in these checks are students in the PCSO’s Explorers program–a program for high school students who are interested in a career in law enforcement.
The deputies and the Explorer visited eight stores in the Lakeland, Bartow, and Mulberry on this week. Seven of the stores refused to sell an alcoholic beverage to the 17-year-old student.
But the Explorer was successful at one store–the Chevron store at 506 West Canal Street in Mulberry.
The 58-year old store clerk, who is from Auburndale, was arrested and charged with selling alcohol to a person under 21 years of age, according to law enforcement. She was taken to the Polk County Jail.
Deputies also charged her with Violation of Probation and for Failure to Appear (Public Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages).
